William Odgers

He entered the enemy fort first and hauled down its colours.

William Odgers was born at Falmouth on 14 February 1834. The son of a fisherman and merchant seaman, he joined the Royal Navy in 1852. Service in HMS Vulture took him to the Baltic during the Crimean War. He later joined HMS Niger and served in China and New Zealand.

At Waireka on 28 March 1860, Odgers took part in the assault on a fortified position. He was the first to enter under heavy fire and helped pull down the defenders’ colours. He received the Victoria Cross, the first awarded for the New Zealand campaigns.

Odgers subsequently served as a captain’s coxswain, coastguard boatman and admiral’s coxswain. He married twice; his first wife died in 1865. Invalided from the Navy in 1868, he ran the Union Inn at Saltash. He died there on 20 December 1873 and was buried at St Stephen’s Church.

Victoria Cross citation

On the 28th March, 1860, William Odgers displayed conspicuous gallantry at the Storming of a Pah during operations against Rebel Natives in New Zealand; having been the first to enter it under a heavy fire, and having assisted in hauling down the enemy’s colours.